urn:taro:utexas.cah.03111A Guide to the Raymond C. Mathews, Sr., Papers, 1924-1973,
2006 (bulk 1950-1973)Original EAD encoding by Mat Darby according to TARO 2 EAD 2002
Editing Instructions.
November 2011Finding aid written in
English.
Descriptive Summary
Mathews, Raymond C., Sr.Raymond C. Mathews, Sr.,
Papers1924-1973,
2006bulk 1950-1973Materials are written in
English.2005-235; 2006-0374 ft., 7 in.Dolph Briscoe Center for American History,
The University of Texas at Austin Plans and designs,
manuals, correspondence and photographs document the career of Raymond C.
Mathews, Sr., and his work designing service stations and other facilities for
Humble Oil & Refining Company throughout the southwest.
Biographical Note

Raymond Clifford Mathews, Sr., an engineer who worked for Humble Oil
& Refining Company and Exxon Corporation, was born in Willow, Arkansas, on
February 17, 1915, to Albert Edward Mathews and Eva Pearl Hudson Mathews and
was the youngest son of seven siblings. Mathews was married to Betty Bunting
Mathews and together they had two sons, Raymond C. Mathews, Jr., and Ronnie
Mathews.

Humble Oil & Refining Company recruited Mathews at Texas A&M
University, where he graduated in 1939 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
He initially worked at the company’s Baytown Refinery, eventually working on
the production of butyl rubber and high-octane aviation fuel, important
contributions to the war effort. In 1942, he took leave from Humble and
enlisted in the U.S. Army and was later assigned to the 435th Anti-Aircraft
Artillery (AAA) Battalion, deploying to North Africa and Italy. Mathews
returned to Humble after the war, working from the company’s headquarters in
Houston.

Throughout his career, Mathews worked as a staff engineer,
special projects engineer, and lastly as chief engineer for maintenance and
construction for Humble’s Southwest Region, covering seven states. Much of his
work involved designing service stations, developing the vapor recovery system
used in filling tanker trucks, and other engineering assignments. One notable
project had Mathews serving as the Special Projects Engineer for the Humble
terminal at the Houston Intercontinental Airport (now George Bush
Intercontinental Airport). Mathews retired from Humble in 1972 for health
reasons, but returned as an independent engineer for Exxon, working on cathodic
protection systems to prevent corrosion of underground fuel tanks. Mathews
retired permanently in 1985.

Note: This biographical note is derived from
“Raymond Clifford Mathews, Sr., Memorial Biography” prepared by Mathews’s
eldest son, Raymond Mathews, Jr., with the assistance of his mother, Betty
Mathews, his brother, Ronnie Mathews, and Mathews, Sr.’s co-workers and army
friends, as an addition to his father’s papers.

Scope and Contents

Plans and designs, manuals, correspondence and photographs document
the career of Raymond C. Mathews, Sr., and his work designing service stations
and other facilities for Humble Oil & Refining Company throughout the
southwest. His papers include a variety of technical standards governing the
construction of these buildings as well as the evolution of Humble’s service
station designs from the 1950s through the 1970s. Also included are records,
particularly plans and designs, for the construction of Humble’s fixed-based
operations at Houston Intercontinental Airport in the early 1970s.